Arizala returns home next week
By Joaquin Henson
PhilBoxing.com
Thu, 09 May 2019
STOCKTON. GAB chairman Abraham Mitra said the other day stricken Masbate featherweight boxer Renerio Arizala will return to Manila on May 15 after a 1 1/2 month confinement and undergoing two surgeries at the Yokohama City Minato Red Cross Hospital to recover from a blood clot in the brain following his knockout loss to Tsuyoshi Tameda.
Mitra said GAB medical section chief Dr. Radentor Viernes has recommended rehab specialist Dr. Noel Napa of Medical Center Manila and PGH to take care of Arizala when he goes home to Bacoor, Cavite. Arizala, 24, has started his rehab in Yokohama and is now able to walk slowly on his own. He had a craniotomy to remove the blood clot in his brain and a cranioplasty to reinsert the bone chiseled out of his skull, both with neurosurgeon Dr. Kagemichi Nagao in the operating room.
According to boxing trainer Jonathan Penalosa, Arizala?s wife gave birth to their first child last April 23 while the fighter was in Yokohama battling for his life. Arizala was knocked out at the Osanbashi Hall last March 31 and rushed to the hospital for emergency surgery within hours. Penalosa was in Arizala?s corner during the fight and his wife Shelly de la Pena, who lives in Japan, has been closely monitoring the boxer?s progress with regular visits to the hospital. Penalosa is back in Manila and said Arizala will never fight again. Filipino matchmaker Art Monis said Arizala is lucky to be alive.
The estimate of Arizala?s hospital expenses is roughly the equivalent of P2.6 million with the Japan Boxing Commission footing the bill. Officials of the Japan Professional Boxing Association are reportedly accompanying Arizala back to Manila and will entrust a donation for his rehab to the GAB.
Mitra, who was here to witness IBF superflyweight champion Jerwin Ancajas? seventh successful title defense against Japanese challenger Ryuichi Funai last Saturday, will not be in Manila when Arizala arrives. He has instructed GAB boxing chief June Bautista to facilitate Arizala?s arrival. Mitra is committed to attend the WBC mid-year Board meeting in Honolulu next week.
Mitra said he was impressed by Ancajas? performance and called the mandatory defense against the No. 1 contender a ?mismatch.? He hadn?t attended an Ancajas fight since watching the fighter wrest the IBF crown from Puerto Rico?s McJoe Arroyo in Taguig in 2016.
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